When support teams contemplate implementing live chat, their immediate concern is the potential rise in volume. Can a small support team still deliver a high-quality experience through live chat?
Launching chat support does not require compromising the quality of support or hiring a large number of agents to keep up. In reality, live chat is often a more efficient and scalable support channel for many companies compared to others.
5 best practices for implementing live chat
Starting with chat as your company expands is an effective method to expand support, but it necessitates careful consideration for effective implementation. By adequately preparing and prioritizing the crucial aspects, your team will be well-equipped for success from the beginning.
To ensure a successful live chat roll out, adhere to these five best practices.
1. Limit chat support in the beginning
Managing the volume of chat conversations can be likened to handling the movement of water. When a chat widget is added to every page and displayed to every visitor, an overwhelming amount of volume is generated, causing difficulties in navigating through the situation.
Instead of opening all the pipes at once, start with a strategic approach. Begin with a business-critical page, such as the checkout page, pricing page, or help center, where enabling customers to chat will make the most significant difference.
The placement of the chat option depends on the business objectives for implementing chat.
If you want to focus on assisting current customers at first, consider displaying the chat widget exclusively for users who are logged in.
If your main goal is to increase conversions, begin by showing chat exclusively on your pricing page.
Starting chat support with only a small percentage of their customers yielded great success for Nicole Winstone, Customer Support Manager at Hootsuite.
Once our team became more at ease with the new channel and as we enlisted new team members, we were capable of increasing our coverage. When commencing, don’t hesitate to provide chat support exclusively to a portion of your customers and expand gradually.
You have complete control over the deployment of your live chat. Begin with a slow rollout and gradually expand as you and your team gain confidence. As you become more adept at managing the chat queue, you can increase the number of chats.
2. Plan ahead with knowledge base articles and saved replies
By having resources readily available, you can enhance the efficiency of your chat teams. Two resources that are crucial for expediting chats are a comprehensive knowledge base and a set of saved replies.
A knowledge base comprises instructional articles and guides that offer assistance in using your product. These articles must offer detailed, sequential guidance on performing routine tasks within your product, incorporating visual aids such as videos, screenshots, or GIFs.
If a customer inquires on how to do something through live chat, you have the option to provide them with a link to the complete article as part of your explanation. The knowledge base articles will prove to be useful repeatedly as you guide your customers through the most commonly used functions during chat conversations.
When it comes to commonly asked questions, utilizing saved replies can be a real time-saver. By anticipating the most frequently asked questions and having a pre-written reply at your disposal, you can streamline the process and ensure a prompt resolution without the need to type out a new response every time.
By carefully preparing resources, your team will be able to have a smooth day in the chat queue, resulting in a beneficial outcome.
3. Make sure customer information is easily accessible
By integrating your company’s data into your chat solution, you will gain a complete understanding of the customer you are assisting. Regardless of whether the data is sourced from your CRM, a product analytics tool, or your help desk, having more information about the customer will enable you to have more effective conversations.
Customer data is displayed alongside each live chat conversation when using Help Scout’s Beacon.
If a chat request is received from sam@abccompany.com, it is evident that he is currently undergoing a 14-day trial. Additionally, by reviewing his previous support conversations, it becomes apparent that he has encountered difficulties during the onboarding process.
With these two pieces of information, you can go into the conversation prepared to assist in converting Sam into a paying customer, all the while addressing any previous concerns he may have had.
4. Offer chat support only when you can
Many people mistakenly believe that chat can only be provided around the clock. However, this is not true. The key lies in managing expectations regarding your availability and informing customers about alternative ways to reach out during your off-hours.
To determine chat business hours, analyze the current volume throughout the day and the availability of customer service representatives. Increase chat support when the majority of customers are online and actively visiting the website. During periods of reduced volume, reassign agents from chat to other tasks or focus on achieving an empty inbox.
Based on the nature of your business, agents who are trained and comfortable can typically handle a workload of two to five chats concurrently. To optimize the chat queue, it is more efficient to assign one agent to four customers rather than having four agents each managing four chats.
It is important to consider that not all problems can be adequately addressed through a chat conversation. If a developer’s involvement is required to assess and prioritize bugs, it is advisable to seamlessly transfer the issue to email. This way, you can provide the customer with more comprehensive information at a later time.
To prevent wasting time for both you and your customers, establish clear escalation paths.
5. Promote live chat as your preferred support channel
Due to its high effectiveness, it is often beneficial to encourage more customers to utilize chat support and decrease the reliance on phone and email communication. Begin by eliminating your phone number from pages containing a chat widget. Promote chat as the superior and swiftest means of obtaining assistance.
Your customers will be happier if a larger proportion of their interactions occur through chat rather than phone or email.
The great advantage of chat support is the level of control it provides. In case of a high volume, you can choose to eliminate the widget from certain pages. Alternatively, if you have extra staff members available, you can choose to start proactive chats with individuals who have spent a considerable amount of time browsing a page on your website or help center. Ultimately, it is entirely your decision on how busy your team becomes with chat support.
As your team becomes more familiar, you can gradually expand chat services to include a greater number of customers.
Top 8 Live Chat Benefits You Have to Know
In today’s world, every organization needs to have live chat as an essential tool, and this article will explain the reasons why along with the main benefits of live chat software. Let’s get started without any delay.
